INFORMATION technology firm Spicer Holdings Ltd on Tuesday warned that its first half earnings had been adversely affected by a number of factors, including the discovery of management misconduct. “Gross management irregularities at a senior management level, the precise nature of which is currently under investigation, have been discovered in MIS-CDS Group Holdings Ltd and are expected to have a negative effect on the results of the company,” Spicer said in a statement. Spicer said the services of MIS-CDS’s managing director had been terminated and it was reviewing the options towards the situation at its British-based IT security defense division. These problems were made worse by the cost of funding R100-million of investment in MIS-CDS and other operations via debt and the issue of new shares, which diluted earnings.